By Jay Blue

Blue Jays from Away

It's that time of year that we begin our reports summarizing the season for the Blue Jays' minor league affiliates. We continue our reports with the rookie-class Bluefield Blue Jays.

If you're new to Blue Jays from Away, we summarize all eight of the Blue Jays' minor league teams in four parts: The Blue Jays from Away Awards, Starting Pitchers, Relief Pitchers and Position Players. Players are discussed with the team that they spent the most time with (by innings pitched for pitchers and at bats for batters).

Under long-time manager, Dennis Holmberg, the Bluefield Blue Jays went 42-26 (three games better than their Pythagorean record of 39-29, based on runs for and against) and finished second in the East Division of the Appalachian League, good enough to get them into the playoffs. The Blue Jays won the first game of their playoff series against the Princeton Rays but lost the next two to go down in defeat in the first round.

Bluefield fielded a mighty offence, scoring the third-most runs in the league, averaging out at 5.81 runs per game (well above the 5.44 r/g league average) with a batting lineup that was 0.4 years below the 20.3 years average age. The pitchers weren't quite as good, finishing fifth in the 10-team league but were still a half run below average, giving up 4.94 runs per game with a pitching staff that was right around the league average age of 20.7 years old.

Blue Jays from Away Player of the Game Champion

For those of you who followed the minor league reports here, you’ll know that I “awarded” Player of the Game (PotG) accolades on a game-by-game basis. It should comfort you to know that I’ve been keeping track of these daily awards and my rationale for the system is as follows.

The Player of the Game Awards were determined by a number of factors that included who I thought had the most impact on the game and who might have gone “above and beyond.” Many nights, there was just one Player of the Game. If there was, he earned one point. If I thought that either a) no one stood out enough to merit a single PotG, or b) two or more players were outstanding and deserved mention, I split the point up into two, three or four shares. If two players earned PotG mention, they each received 0.5 points and if three players earned mentions, they each received 0.33 points, etc. There were occasions that I felt that no one merited the award and therefore, I did not give out any points.

Here are the leaders for the Blue Jays from Away Player of the Game for the Bluefield Blue Jays:

Alejandro Kirk 11.42

Cal Stevenson 10.25

Dominic Abbadessa 6

Luis De Los Santos 5.25

D.J. Neal 4.75

Hagen Danner 4.08

Eric Pardinho 4

While it was a close one, congrats go to Alejandro Kirk, the Blue Jays from Away Player of the Game Champion for the 2018 Bluefield Blue Jays!

Blue Jays from Away Player of the Year

It was an incredibly close race for the Player of the Year for the Bluefield Blue Jays as the top two players both had an OPS over 1.000 and they finished at No. 2 and No. 3 in the overall batting race for the league. The question then becomes which do you rate higher, OBP or slugging percentage? Cal Stevenson led the league in OBP at .494 to go with his .359 average and solid, .518 slugging percentage, while Alejandro Kirk was fourth in the league in slugging percentage (and tops on the team), hitting 10 home runs to go with 10 doubles. In the end, I'm going to give the award to Cal Stevenson thanks to a little more versatility in his game. Stevenson stole 20 bases in 21 attempts and had seven outfield assists and while Kirk was successful in throwing 43% of potential base stealers out, he only caught a a little more than the half the games he played.

Honourable mention: Alejandro Kirk, Hagen Danner

Blue Jays from Away Pitcher of the Year

For me, innings count for the Pitcher of the Year award, and, frankly, since we have an award for the best reliever, I generally look for a starter to give this award to. This year, my choice was pretty clear and I'm going to go with the starter and select 17-year-old Eric Pardinho who, in his professional debut, had a 2.88 ERA while posting a stellar WHIP of 1.06 and an electric strikeout rate of 31.5%.

Honourable Mention: Nicolas Medina, Brad Wilson

Blue Jays from Away Reliever of the Year

There were several worthy pitchers in the reliever category. Fitz Stadler was dominant in his brief stay in Bluefield and Troy Watson was excellent, posting a 1.67 ERA and 0.78 WHIP in 27 innings. But I do look for dominance and strikeout rates help with that and Brad Wilson had a 1.63 ERA, a 0.83 WHIP and struck out 27.8% with an 8.3% walk rate. But he still wasn't better than Nicolas Nicolas Medina who threw 23 2/3 innings with a 31.5% strikeout rate, a 1.52 ERA and a 0.80 WHIP. In a close race, the award goes to Nicolas Medina.

Honourable Mention: Troy Watson, Brad Wilson

Starting Pitchers

We're going to start our more in-depth look at the Bluefield Blue Jays by looking at starting pitchers. At the Rookie ball level, the distinctions between starting pitchers and relief pitchers are frequently fluid so we're going to include anyone who made 50% of his appearances as a starter, or logged enough innings to gain consideration. If a player played for more than one team over the course of the season, he'll be grouped according to the club he played the most with.

We begin with the pitchers who made the most starts and work our way downwards from there.

The pitcher who made the most starts for the Bluefield Blue Jays was Nathanael Perez. Perez, a 20-year-old Dominican righty, was stellar in the Dominican Summer League last year but saw his stats come back down to earth jumping two levels up to Bluefield. Throwing 56 1/3 innings, Perez had a 4.47 ERA and 1.49 WHIP, but maintained his solid strikeout rate, down just 0.1% to 23.8% while his strikeout rate burped upwards to 8.5%. Perez allowed two runs on four hits and a walk with four strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings in his only playoff start. This type of regression is to be expected, particularly since Perez was not only moving to a new country and culture but jumping a level of competition, playing against players with a wider mix of experience. I could see him in Vancouver or Lansing next year.

Dominican lefty Claudio Galva continued his upwards trajectory through the system, pitching at his third level in three years at the age of 21. That said, starting 11 games and throwing 54 2/3 innings, Galva's numbers took a hit at the new level, with his ERA jumping to 4.61 and his WHIP increasing to 1.46. Galva's never been a strikeout pitcher and he has stayed fairly consistent with his strikeout rate, peaking at 15.4% in 2018 (up from 15.0% in the GCL in 2017 and 14.3% in the DSL in 2016). while his walk rate was quite good at 6.0%. I can see Galva also being in Lansing or Vancouver in 2019. Galva made a start in the playoffs, taking the loss in Game 2 against the Princeton Rays, allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

17-year-old Brazilian phenom Eric Pardinho made a big impact, getting raves for his maturity and excellent curveball is his professional debut. Pardinho also features a solid curveball and was better than his competition more often than not in 2018. Pardinho had a 2.88 ERA and 1.06 WHIP in 50 innings with Bluefield and struck out a whopping 31.5% of batters while walking a solid 7.9%. He also induced quite a few ground balls (46.3%) but he tended to give up some home runs (0.9 HR/9) and had two starts in which he got roughed up. Only one was truly bad (giving up five runs on eight hits in 2 2/3 innings) but in the only other two outings in which he allowed three runs or more, he still struck out at least six batters in each. Pardinho was shelled in his one playoff start, lasting just one inning and giving up six runs on three hits and four walks (including two home runs).

Felipe Castaneda was the third youngest pitcher on the staff and he took a regular rotation with the Bluefield Blue Jays despite some struggles. Making 10 starts, Castaneda tossed 37 2/3 innings with a 6.69 ERA and 1.83 WHIP, having issues with walks, walking 15.3% of batters while striking out 15.9%. The 6-foot-1 Mexican righty will likely spend another year in short-season ball next year.

Colombian righty Alvaro Galindo pitched 10 times in his return to Bluefield and the 20-year-old started seven games and tossed 27 innings with an ugly 9.33 ERA and 2.15 WHIP. Galindo also struggled with his control, walking 14.2% of batters and struck out 18.4%. I'd look for him to also stay in short-season ball but he's already pitched two years in Bluefield.

Troy Watson started six of his nine games and logged 27 innings for the Bluefield Blue Jays after being selected in the 15th round of the 2018 draft. Watson was outstanding, posting a 1.67 ERA and 0.78 WHIP, striking out 19.6% of batters and walking 7.8%. The key will be to see if Watson, who also had a 53.4% ground ball rate, will be equally as effective as he starts going deeper and deeper into games, turning over lineups for a third time, something he did only once in 2018, in a five-inning start on August 7. He also missed time at the end of the year, going just one inning on August 12 and didn't pitch again for the remainder of the season. Look for Watson, 21, in Lansing next year.

Joel Espinal came off a rough season in Bluefield in 2017 and had a rough time with injuries in 2018. He pitched just 11 1/3 innings with Bluefield as a 21 year old (who turned 22 on August 15) and was solid in his limited time, putting up a 3.18 ERA and 1.24 WHIP with a 30.4% strikeout rate and 10.9% walk rate in two starts and one relief appearance. Espinal pitched once in May, tossing three scoreless, hitless innings, striking out three against the Tampa Tarpons in class-A Advanced Dunedin but didn't pitch again until he resurfaced in mid-August with the Blue Jays where he finished out the rest of the year. I'd look for him in Lansing in 2019.

Relief Pitchers

We move on to the relief pitchers for the Bluefield Blue Jays, looking at pitchers who made most of their appearances out of the bullpen.

We begin with the pitchers who made the most appearances and work our way downwards from there. If a player played for more than one team over the course of the season, he'll be grouped according to the club he played the most with.

Leading the Bluefield Blue Jays with 23 appearances and six saves was the big (6-foot-7) righty Sean Rackoski. Rackoski, a non-drafted free agent, signed with the Blue Jays and the 23- year-old had some stretches where he was very effective. Overall, however, he had a solid 4.21 ERA and 1.52 WHIP, striking out a stellar 29.0% with a good 7.9% walk rate in 25 2/3 innings. He also generated quite a few ground balls with 49.3% of balls put in play hit on the ground. Look for Rackoski in Vancouver or Lansing next year.

Brad Wilson was probably one of the most effective relievers for the Bluefield Blue Jays and the 13th round draft pick in 2018 had a 1.63 ERA and 0.83 WHIP in 27 2/3 innings, striking out 27.8% of batters and walking 8.3% and getting a whopping 58.5% of batted balls on the ground. At 22, he's probably able to jump to Lansing next year.

The Josh Almonte Experiment was in full force in 2018 as the former outfielder began his journey on the pitchers mound. Almonte got plenty of opportunity to show what he could do, getting onto the mound 21 times and throwing 26 innings but he had a 9.00 ERA and 1.88 WHIP, struggling with control and walking 16.9% of batters while striking out 17.7%. He did get 57.9% of batted balls on the ground. It will be interesting to see what happens with Almonte this offseason as 2018 was the final year of his initial contract.

Righty Grant Townsend came into 21 games for the Bluefield Blue Jays, tossing 26 1/3 innings with a 5.47 ERA but a solid, 1.25 WHIP, striking out 27.4% of batters while his walk rate was a little on the high side at 13.3%. Townsend, a 34th-round pick out of Oral Roberts University will likely be with Vancouver next year.

Andy McGuire was the Blue Jays' only two-way player in 2018 and he had some success on both sides of the ball. As a pitcher, McGuire, who was born in Rabat, Morocco, got into 18 games with a 3.09 ERA and 1.03 WHIP, striking out 22.9% of batters and walking 8.3%, getting an insane amount of ground balls (73.8%). It's also interesting to note that hitters had a hard time pulling the ball against him, hitting it the other way 44.6% of the time with just 20.0% up the middle and 35.4% to the pull side. We'll talk about McGuire the hitter in the next part of the Bluefield Blue Jays report.

Mike Pascoe, a 5-foot-10, hard-throwing righty out of a community college in Texas threw 18 times for the Blue Jays, getting 20 1/3 innings of baseball under his belt but things could have gone better for the 20 year old. Pascoe had a 10.18 ERA and 2.16 WHIP, striking out 18 batters but walking 16 and giving up five home runs. He'll probably stay in short-season ball next year to hammer out a few issues before moving up.

Adams Cuevas made 17 appearances including six starts, logging 53 innings for the Bluefield Blue Jays. He had a 3.57 ERA and 1.08 ERA and the 22-year-old had a stellar 28.8% strikeout rate and 4.3% walk rate. He could also see time in Lansing in 2018 after seeing one game there in 2017.

The Blue Jays drafted 5-foot-11 righty Cre Finfrock in the 29th round out of the University of Central Florida and the South Carolina native tossed 28 innings in 15 outings (including three starts) with a 5.14 ERA but with a much better 1.43 WHIP, striking out a solid 26.4% but walking 13.2%. The 22 year old will probably start in extended spring training but could earn a spot with Lansing at some point.

18-year-old Venezuelan lefty Nicolas Medina had a stellar first year with the Bluefield Blue Jays, jumping to the Advanced-Rookie level after five outings in the GCL. In Florida, he tossed 9 2/3 innings with a 3.72 ERA and 0.93 WHIP, striking out eight batters and walking four (including one intentionally) before moving up and getting even better, tossing 23 2/3 innings with a 1.52 ERA and 0.80 WHIP, striking out a whopping 31.5% of batters and walking 9.0%. Medina could be moved quickly, getting time in Lansing once the weather warms up, or he could get another year in short-season ball in 2019, likely with Vancouver.

Joe DiBenedetto went back to Bluefield in 2018 after a rough professional debut in 2017. The 23-year-old lefty didn't have a warm reception, posting a 15.43 ERA and 3.00 WHIP, giving up 14 walks and striking out nine in just seven innings.

Brennan Price, 23, made five appearances in the GCL, giving up seven runs in nine innings with three walks and nine strikeouts before moving to Bluefield where he pitched nine times, posting a 3.38 ERA in 10 2/3 innings, with a 1.87 WHIP, striking out 14 and walking seven, missing about three weeks due to injury.

Jackson Rees, 23, was signed as a non-drafted free agent this year and worked his way to Bluefield after eight appearances with the GCL Blue Jays. Rees was promoted to Bluefield, after posting a 5.59 ERA and 1.45 WHIP, striking out 11 and walking only two in 9 2/3 innings. At the higher level, he tossed 11 2/3 innings over eight outings, posting a 4.63 ERA and 1.54 WHIP, striking out 12 and walking five.

Matt Harris, 24, made four appearances with Bluefield and one with the GCL Blue Jays, missing much of the season due to injuries. He started with the Bluefield Blue Jays, making three appearances at the beginning of the season and then he was out a month, pitching to one batter before going back on the DL. After a rehab outing with the GCL, he was back in Bluefield for two more appearances before the season ended. Harris threw one inning in the GCL, allowing two hits with a strikeout and tossed 7 1/3 innings with Bluefield, allowing two runs on eight hits (including two home runs) with just one walk and nine strikeouts.

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